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THE SCENARIO that is depicted as positive for saving wildlife in this article is based on a trophy hunting concession employing an anti-poaching squad to regulate bushmeat hunting, attempting to keep it more subsistence than commercial. But it’s all based on killing animals – for the bushmeat hunters, usually after the animals are trapped in ragged-toothed homemade gin traps, and for the trophy hunters shooting them with high-powered rifles. “Money comes in from rich foreigners who pay premium prices for permits to hunt here.” There is no room for animal welfare, they say, and they have no interest in developing such an ethic, and neither do the moneyed conservation organizations with their mantra of “sustainable use” of wildlife. What is needed, they say, are other sources of “protein,” which translates as “meat” rather than tofu. But the growing population of human urbanites want to eat the meat they grew up eating: the meat of wildlife that was hunted in the land around their home villages. “Half the meat from the [trophy] hunts goes to villages,” but that means more of the available bushmeat can be sold to the towns. On what do we pin our hope for animals in Africa?

http://www.takepart.com/feature/2016/04/01/bushmeat-poaching?cmpid=organic-share-facebook

The Inspiring Heroes Battling the Hidden Poaching EpidemicThe bushmeat trade is devastating Africa’s wildlife while starting pandemics—and thousands of pounds of meat make it into the U.S. every year.